Chapter 14
Multicam.
Multicam puts several cameras in one grid with a shared record button, a shared exposure rail and a timecode jam. Nikon bodies over USB and Wi-Fi mix freely, and one RED can join them. Any tile can be promoted to full Live View and back.
Setting up a rig
Open Multicam from the page switcher or the Multicam row on the Connection page. The first time, a four-step guide opens: how the cameras connect (USB cables, marked Best; iPhone hotspot, marked Suggested; your Wi-Fi router), the phone and camera preparation for that route, a live list where cameras appear with Pair or Connect buttons and a Connect all button, and a confirmation page. It's not working sends logs.
- USB: a powered USB-C hub with one data cable per camera. The cameras connect as one set. Two USB bodies at once has been verified on a Mac with a powered hub; on iPhone and iPad, treat more than one USB body as something to test with your hub before the shoot.
- Hotspot or router: every camera joins the same network as the phone, each with its own Connect to computer profile. Pair each camera once.
- Mixed: a body on the cable is listed once; its Wi-Fi entry returns when the cable comes out.
- RED: connect the RED from the Connection page first; it then appears as a tile. One RED at a time.
While the page is open the app keeps searching. Cameras that go quiet drop off until seen again; a connected body that drops shows a Lost pill and is reconnected automatically up to five times, keeping its name, LUT and position. Pause Camera Search in the tools menu stops the discovery traffic once the rig is up.
Layouts
| Layout | Tiles | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Spotlight (1+3) | One large, three small; arrows cycle which camera is large | A director's view: one hero camera with the others for context. |
| Side by Side | 2 | Two-camera interviews. |
| 2x2 | 4 | The usual four-camera grid. |
| 3x2 | 6 | |
| 4x2 | 8 | The largest grid. More cameras than a layout holds add rows. |
Drag a tile onto another to reorder; the order is remembered. On a phone in portrait the tiles stack vertically.
What each tile shows
The camera name with a phase dot, a battery chip, a REC pill while recording, a TC pill with the live timecode, a per-tile LUT button, a status line at the bottom, and a LIVE button. Audio meters and the Camera Info overlay can be added for every tile from the toolbar.
- LIVE promotes the camera to the normal Live View page with every tool. Over Wi-Fi the session is handed over; over USB the other USB tiles pause first. Blocked while recording, so you never interrupt a take. A return button in Live View brings you back.
- LUT applies the LUT settings captured from Live View to that tile. On a RED tile it also switches the camera to Log View so the look is not applied twice.
- Phase pills read Found, Pair, Confirm, Starting, Live, Lost, Error and so on, so you can see where a camera is in its connection.
The toolbar
| Pill | What it does |
|---|---|
| CTRL | Opens the shared exposure rail. |
| FOCUS | Tap-to-focus on tiles. With it off, a tap does nothing, which protects a live rig from stray touches. |
| FRME | Frame guides for every tile: ratios, Custom, Multi, Scale and Mask, shared with Live View. |
| FALSE | False color on every tile. |
| X-LTS | X-Lights and X-Posts on every tile. |
| WFM | A waveform per tile. |
| AUD | Audio meters per tile (on by default). |
| INFO | The Camera Info overlay: ISO, format, frame rate, codec, exposure, colour, battery, media, timecode and firmware per tile. |
| TC | The Timecode Jam panel. |
| LINK | Connect all cameras. |
| LAY | Layout picker. |
| MORE | Tools: Pause or Resume Camera Search, Disconnect All, Show or Hide Audio Meters, Show or Hide Camera Info, Hide Live View Buttons, Recalibrate Record Sync, Send Multicam Logs. |
Monitoring tools can be switched while recording without stopping any camera.
Group record
The big record button starts and stops every connected camera. Each Nikon takes a slightly different time to begin recording after the command, so the app learns a timing profile per camera group over the first five complete starts and then delays each camera's command so they all begin as close together as possible. A RED joins the same start gate.
Recalibrate Record Sync in the tools menu clears the learned compensation for the current group; the next five starts build a new profile. Use it after changing cameras, cables or the hub. Disconnect All is blocked while anything is recording.
Group record aligns starts to within the cameras' own response times. For frame-accurate alignment, jam the timecode and line clips up by timecode in the edit.
The shared exposure rail (CTRL)
A draggable, resizable panel with a camera selector along the top (one capsule per camera, including the RED) and a ladder of settings. Pick a camera, pick a setting, then drag or tap the value drum; phones use a horizontal stepper. Tags show ADJUST, SENDING and QUEUED as the write goes through, and a refresh button reads the current values back.
| Setting | Nikon | RED |
|---|---|---|
| ISO | Yes | Yes |
| Shutter | Angle in video on bodies with shutter angle, otherwise speed | Yes |
| Aperture | Yes | Yes |
| WB mode | Yes | — |
| Kelvin | Yes | Yes |
| Tint A/B, Tint G/M | Yes | G/M only |
| Audio volume | Video only | — |
Put a grey card in front of each camera, turn on WFM, and bring each camera's grey to the same level with ISO or aperture. Then set the same Kelvin on all and use Tint G/M until the parade traces line up on each. Finish with FALSE on to confirm skin sits in the same band everywhere.
Timecode Jam-Sync (TC)
The jam writes one timecode value to every ready camera so their clips line up in the edit. The panel shows how many cameras are ready and a big Jam REC RUN or Jam FREE RUN button.
For each ready Nikon the app turns Rec TC on if needed, writes the count method, writes the start value, then reads it back and shows TC 14:02:10:00 when verified or TC failed if the camera refused. The RED gets the same value. Cameras are ready only with live preview and not recording.
After a group stop in REC RUN, every camera is re-jammed to the highest value among them so they stay aligned for the next take, and the RED is re-jammed right before each shared start.
This is a software jam over the control link: a one-time preset accurate to within the link's round-trip, not genlock or a continuous sync. Nikon-to-Nikon it lines clips up to a frame or two; across RED and Nikon the frame accuracy is not verified. Use FREE RUN with the phone's clock for a day of multi-camera coverage, and REC RUN when every clip should start from the same number. The RED's REC RUN and FREE RUN cannot be set over its protocol, so set it on the camera.
Preview stalls and recovery
If a tile's preview stalls, the status line says "Preview stalled; retrying" and the app retries, reconnecting after a few seconds if needed. While a camera is recording, only the preview is retried and the session is never closed: "Preview stalled; recording continues" means the camera is still rolling and only the picture is interrupted. "Not visible in latest Wi-Fi scan" means the body dropped off the network.
Send Multicam Logs
In the tools menu. Copies a Multicam-specific report, including RED evidence when present, and opens an email to support. Send it right after a problem, before disconnecting.
Android
ZR Ctl for Android has the same Multicam with a grid that grows past eight tiles, the same jam-sync with an added wait-for-jam option, and the same mixing rules.
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